Free-market advocates are clear about what should be done about government services and operations: they should be privatized. While there is considerable confusion about how the process should be accomplished, the goal is crystal-clear. But apart from trying to speed up privatization, and also forcing that process indirectly by slashing the
If men were like ants, there would be no interest in human freedom. If individual men, like ants, were uniform, interchangeable, devoid of specific personality traits of their own, then who would care whether they were free or not? Who, indeed, would care if they lived or died? The glory of the human race is the uniqueness of each individual, the
In the 20th century, the advocates of free-market economics almost invariably pin the blame for government intervention solely on erroneous ideas — that is, on incorrect ideas about which policies will advance the public weal. To most of these writers, any such concept as “ruling class” sounds impossibly Marxist. In short, what they are really
The following points of desocialization must necessarily be written or read sequentially, but they need not be carried out in that manner: all the following points could, and should, be instituted immediately and all at once. Legalize the Black Market The first two planks are implicit in the previous part of this paper. One, is to legalize the
I have come to realize, since writing this essay, that I overweighted the contributions and importance of Adam Smith on the division of labor. And to my surprise, I did not sufficiently appreciate the contributions of Ludwig von Mises. Despite the enormous emphasis on specialization and the division of labor in the Wealth of Nations , much of
The best way to look at tariffs or import quotas or other protectionist restraints is to forget about political boundaries. Political boundaries of nations may be important for other reasons, but they have no economic meaning whatever. Suppose, for example, that each state of the United States were a separate nation. Then we would hear a lot of
Probably the most common question that has been hurled at me—in some exasperation—over the years is: “Why don’t you stick to economics?” For different reasons, this question has been thrown at me by fellow economists and by political thinkers and activists of many different persuasions: Conservatives, Liberals, and Libertarians who have disagreed
Los defensores del libre mercado tienen claro qué debería hacerse con respecto a servicios y operaciones públicos: deberían privatizarse. Aunque hay una confusión considerable acerca de cómo debería llevarse a cabo el proceso, el objetivo es muy claro. Pero aparte de tratar de acelerar la privatización y también forzar ese proceso indirectamente
[Extraído de “ Libertad, desigualdad, primitivismo y división del trabajo ”] Si los hombres fueran como hormigas, no habría interés por la libertad humana. Si los hombres individuales, como hormigas, fueran uniformes, intercambiables, privados de sin rasgos propios de personalidad, ¿a quién le importaría si son libres o no? De hecho, ¿importaría a
Extraído del prólogo a Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature , 1974. Publicado en The Rothbard Reader . Probablemente la pregunta más común que me han lanzado (con cierta exasperación) a lo largo de los años sea: “¿Por qué no te atienes a la economía?” Por distintas razones, me han arrojado esta pregunta mis colegas economistas y pensadores y
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.